It's Where My Demons Hide
by alwaysalrose
Summary: Rose and Albus. Albus and Rose. Best Friends. Cousins. Lovers. For the OTP Boot Camp Challenge on HPFC. Chapter Two: Rose is still scared of the rumble of the sky.
1. Fear

The two had many fears.

-x-

Rose's first fear was being away from her mother. This one would soon fade. As a five month old, she would scream and howl if lifted from her mother's arms. She loved her father, but he had been too scared to hold her, and she could sense that. She didn't want to be held either.

This fear was constant as a young child. Her mother was her net, her support, and she didn't want to have to crawl away. Ever. The only time she really felt properly safe was when she was with her mother. She insisted on sleeping in her parents' bed until she had to leave for Hogwarts, by which time she was nearly twelve. It made her feel safer than sleeping in her room in the small bed.

-x-

Albus' first fear was not being good enough. He seemed to be fearless as a baby and young toddler. His first fear came when he turned three - when he was at the Burrow.

Dropping his plate, watching it smash, hearing the scolds of his Grandmother. Nothing new. But the new thing was the idea that his father would never do that - as the son of the chosen one, he would have to be good - he would have to be the _best_. This fear never really went away.

-x-

Their main fear, as adults, as they aged, was being found out. A Malfoy and A Weasley - A Malfoy and a Potter - scandalous. But... Cousins? No. Never. The lies they told, the secrets they kept, it haunted them. But they had no choice. They could never live with their parents' disapproval, which somehow connected to their first fears.


	2. Thunder

As little kids, young children, barely six years old each, they both had a irrational fear of thunder. They loved watching the lightning dazzle the sky, but the sound truly terrified them.

"Rosie? Rosie!" Albus screamed across the Burrow, running inside, his jet-black hair dripping wet. "Rosie! The big boom, the thunder, it's-" Another rumble echoed across the sky and Albus heard a whimper. Rose.

He ran up the stairs to Aunt Ginny's room, and found Rose rocking back and forth in a ball.

"Al, Al, it's here again, the thund-" Another boom. Rose screamed and flattened herself against the wall. Albus ran next to her, flattening himself on top of her.

"It's okay, I'll protect you, promise, promise Rosie." The two cousins curled up together for the next hour as the thunder waged war on their ears.

-x-

Rose sat, forlorn, by the window in a chair, watching the grey clouds stumble towards the small house she shared with Albus. Albus came up behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Rosie? You okay?" The twenty year old whispered. Rose stared up at him, her blue eyes dark and clouded.  
"A storm. A storm." She choked on her words. "I'm scared of storms." Albus wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her ear. She leaned her head back into his neck, shutting her eyes. The two swayed slowly and the storm crept closer and rain starting to smash the ground.

"You should go check on Accalia." Albus whispered. Rose nodded.

"I know." She pushed him away and marched upstairs, to her two-year-old's room. Accalia had short red hair and her father's ice-blue eyes and pointed chin. Scorpius' daughter, definitely. Rose picked up her daughter and rocked her slowly, eye carefully on the window.

And then thunder boomed across the sky.


	3. Killing

"Albus, could you kill somebody?" The six year old girl asked.  
"Only to protect Lilykins and my favourite cousin." The emerald-eyed boy said confidently.

-x-

"Albus, could you kill somebody?" the eleven year old asked.  
"Rosie, we're going to Hogwarts for the first time, don't ask now." The black-haired boy dismissed her.

-x-

"Albus, could you kill somebody?" The sixteen year old asked, her bushy red hair bouncing.

"Rosie, there's a war coming. Everyone will have to kill."

-x-

"Albus, did you kill somebody?" Rose, of twenty-one years, asked. Albus kissed her softly.

"Of course, Rosie, to protect you, I did. I killed Draco Malfoy." Albus hissed.

"You killed my child's grandfather."


	4. Ridiculous

6 months, 2 weeks, 4 days had passed since Rose Weasley had gone outside. And that was only to St Mungos, for a check-up on Accalia.

"It's getting ridiculous, Rosie, you can't stay locked up here forever!" He crossed her arms.

"But I can't go outside Al, you know why..." She trailed off, looking forlorn. Albus rolled his eyes.

"It's just rumours. You and I both know they aren't true, so why should it matter? Come on. It's unhealthy."  
"I want to stay inside."  
"Rosie! You're just giving them what they want. C'mon." Albus said cheerfully. Rose shook her head.

"No." She said stubbornly. Albus rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I'm taking Accalia out without you then." He snapped. Rose went pale.

"No. Definitely not. She isn't going anywhere without me!" Rose shrieked. Albus smirked.

"Then come with us."  
"Fine. Only up and down the street."

"Okay."  
They took a hand of Accalia each, and walked slowly up and down the street. Rose inhaled the smells and the fresh air, and they were in a muggle part of town, so it wasn't like the paparazzi were everywhere, bugging them. As months passed by, Rose would go a little further - to the park around the corner, or to the shopping centre across the road. But one sign of a single witch or wizard would send her back home for weeks. She watched her cousin, Molly, and her pregnancy be documented in the papers, Rose's only connection to the wizarding world. And eventually, she woke up, opened the news paper and found her cousin had gone into labour.

Then she woke Albus and Accalia up, despite their protests. Albus was not much of a looker in the morning - ruffled hair and baggy eyes and all the bits and bobs. But she was still grinning - that labour had been the final straw for her. She couldn't sit as a prisoner in her own home.

"Get up, Albus, I'm ready!" She protested. She ignored the sleepy glare he gave her. "Take me to the Leaky Cauldron. I'm ready to see the Wizarding World."

**A/N: Also for the 'If you Dare' challenge with prompt 297 - I'm Ready**


	5. Calm

Rose took another breath; _calmly, calmer, calm. _

Today she had no choice; _calmly, calmer, calm._

Today was the day after her trial; _calmly, calmer, calm._

She would be going to the Quibbler, and making a statement; _calmly, calmer, calm._

Albus couldn't do this - it had to be her; _calmly, calmer, calm._

She took another breath; _calmly, calmer, calm._

Because Rose had not been sentenced, or fined. She had been taken to a therapist, and must go twice a week; _calmly, calmer, calm._

She had to be taken care of and looked after always. She was not allowed alone; _calmly, calmer, calm._

Albus had volunteered to take her in. Her parents would be too disgusted with her; _calmly, calmer, calm. _

But she was not calm, living with her cousin and making statements and even just breathing.

She was not doing anything _calmly. _

She could not be _calmer._

Perhaps she would never be _calm _again.


End file.
